Henry W. Coe - One Confused Hike

If you are going to go on a hike, pack well (did that), plan your route (check that), tell someone where you are going (did that), and check your map before you set out (...).

We headed out to Henry W. Coe State Park for a nice day hike. I remember reading somewhere that some people think this would be a good park for training for the Sierras (yes, I am still thinking of doing John Muir Trail, JMT) but the author thought that actually Sierras would be a good training ground for Henry W Coe Park. It is the largest state park in Northern California with endless trails that only go up. At least that is what I, my family, and all the friends who ever went on hikes with us there think. After hiking there we always end up totally wasted and bewildered by how it is that no matter which direction we turn it is always uphill.

Usually when we start at the park hq entrance. Once we went with some kids to Gilroy Hot Springs entrance. This time we thought we would explore Coyote Creek one. Trails from there looked promising, we do not know this part of the park at, all and this is a free entrance to the park so what could be better. My hubby decided to skip that hike so it was only the two of us, Kenneth and I.

When we arrived there were already some cars parked on the side of the road. There was not much room there for parking since the road is narrow and there is no shoulder but we managed to squeeze in. We grabbed our packs and off we went. We were supposed to go on Grizzly Gulch Trail and we remembered that it was a major trail going straight from where the road ended so we just went without checking the map. OK, that is a sure way to get in trouble. Now after so many years of hiking and backpacking I should have known better. So we kept on going and going. Coyote Creek kept us company at first staying at our level and then going deep down. The road was a bit boring and very rocky making the soles of my feet achy. It was chilly and the wind did not make me feel comfortable either. Kenny actually felt very good in his short sleeve shirt. Oh, to be young again!

On the way a black truck slowed down as it was passing us. They guy inside asked us how far we were hiking. I told him I was not sure. Like I was going to tell some stranger our hiking plans. Kenneth later told me that on the other side of the truck there was a sign that he was the state park volunteer. OK, maybe I am paranoid.

And then we saw the sign for a horse camp and a trail marker that the  first lake we were heading for was... 6miles away. What? I thought we were at the most 1.5miles away. Map time. Finally map time. Sure enough, we were on the wrong trail. We stayed on Coit Rd. instead of turning onto Grizzly Gulch Trail. Change of plans then: forget the lakes and just make a different loop. So off we went, leaving the boring gravel road and going on a single track trail. It was hard packed dirt which my feet totally appreciated. Right away my mood had lifted as we ventured more into nature. The sun was strong, the wind was making waves on golden-green grasses and there we were, alone in this amazing nature. 

As I think back about this hike I cannot even remember much what we talked about. There was some talk about JMT plans. There was talk about the 13 year old who had just climbed Mount Everest. None of the conversations was deep or long. Just few sentences here and there, some teasing, some pointing at things that we thought were pretty but mostly we were quiet enjoying the sounds of wind and occasional birds. I can't even say I was actually thinking about anything. My mind was drifting here and there, mostly just immersing itself in the beauty around. Ever so often we saw mountain bikers braving the trails. Gosh, I was so impressed with their level of fitness. This is not a park for the weaklings. The hills are steep and for biking quite technical, and there are hardly any flat parts. This part of the park is actually quite wild meaning that trails are not maintained well. Some were so narrow that grasses and flowers were getting stuck in between my toes. At times we could not see which way the trail went, it was so overgrown. Hiking there was challenging, biking seemed to me heroic. 
But overgrown and hardly visible trails was not the reason why we kept getting lost. Yes, every time we checked the map we realized we were on the wrong trail. Now that is really not like us. Actually both of us are quite good with maps but even though we kept checking the map at each trail mark  we kept making wrong turns or maybe we were missing some turns altogether. Some trail marks were missing , sure, but that was also not a good excuse. Still at no time did I feel alarmed. Judging by the sun we kept going in the right direction and we had tons of time to get back to the car. Kenny was actually quite happy with our wanderings calling our hike a walkabout. He even did not mind that we would not get to the lakes.

At one point we encountered the guy from the black truck. This time he had an official state park shirt on and was chatting with some other guy. They both had really cool mountain bikes. He greeted us with a big grin and maybe because of his state park shirt I felt more comfortable grinning back.

Kenny had food with him but I had decided to go with only a small bag of nuts. I want to train my body to burn fat and not rely on getting fuel all the time. I am proud to say I did not dig into those nuts at all and did not feel hungry or tired. 

When we finally got to the trail we were sure was going to get us to the parking for sure we relaxed. OK, that is not entirely true. Kenneth thought that the trail looked familiar. It reminded him of a trail we went on with the kids last year. I had to admit that he was right and begun to wonder if we were not heading towards the parking lot that we had passed a couple of miles before we got to our gate on the way to the park. There were signs there that they had a... poker day there, which was a bit weird. As we kept going  sliding down a steep slope (Vibram KSO suck on trails) we encountered a group of people, adult and kids sitting in the shade. After exchanging hello's they asked us if we played poker. I must be missing something about being in nature and playing poker so we replied that we were just hikers and not really poker players. After meeting those people we were sure that we were going to the wrong parking. Somehow we did not feel like pulling the map yet again because at that point it did not matter. If we got to the wrong lot all we needed to do was to hike a couple of miles up the road, that's all. But soon we got back on Coit Rd and our car was not far from there. We could also see where had we missed the trail we were originally hoping to go on. Maybe it was not so bad after all. We got to explore a little, we totally enjoyed the hike and it is not like we really had to get anywhere. At no time was I alarmed that we would not get out or run out of water. I knew we were heading in the right direction but at the same time I kept thinking that in the future we needed to be more careful if we are ever to hike JMT. 216 miles is a lot of miles to get lost on and our map skills obviously leave a lot to desire even though till now we had never gotten lost on any trails.
As we got really close to the car, the creek kept calling our tired feet so we went for a cold soak. That was heavenly. My Achilles tendon felt especially grateful though I have to give him credit for good behavior on that hike. Ever so often Mr Achilles reminded me that I needed to slow down or step more carefully but in general he caused no problems.